Conventional laboratory tests require reagents of the order of microliters to milliliters for chemical analysis, reagent preparation, chemical synthesis, and reaction detection. Production of a reaction field finer than a test tube by applying lithography process technology or thick film process technology has recently enabled testing using a reagent of the order of nanoliters. μ-TAS (Micro-Total Analysis System) technology is a technology for applying a laboratory test using such a fine reaction field to, e.g., medical test and diagnosis including a genetic test, a chromosomal test, and cytoscopy, biotechnology, testing of a trace amount of substance in an environment, and investigation of the breeding environment of an agricultural product and the like and testing of the genes of an agricultural product. In a conventional laboratory test, a reagent is mainly handled through manipulation by a technologist. The process of a laboratory test is generally complicated and thus it requires expert operation of equipment. μ-TAS technology enables process simplification and ease of operation. μ-TAS technology is also expected to produce substantial benefits, such as automation, an increase in speed, an increase in fineness, a reduction in cost, an increase in the level of promptness, and a reduction in environmental impacts.
In particular, in the field of medical tests, a testing system including a plurality of testing apparatuses connected over a network is used to enable sharing of information between pretreatment and a plurality of analyses, to facilitate management of a large number of specimens to be treated, or to achieve an increase in the speed of a laboratory test. In a medical testing system, medical testing elements using, e.g., μ-TAS technology described above is used as functional devices of a medical testing apparatus. In such a testing system, each of the testing elements is often used differently.